palm fronds

There were palm fronds growing by the path and I cut them loose from the tree

when I was done with them I discarded them in the waste ground behind the garden wall

there  they lay

was I in the crowd

oh yes I am in the crowd

I’m always in the crowd

we are right he is the Messiah he is wonderful counselor Almighty God everlasting father prince of peace and he is coming

as promised 

he arrives on an unridden colt and we cheer 

hosanna save us that’s what hosanna means save us save us anointed one expected one

the palm fronds lay behind the wall drying until the next spring when someone asked for dried palm fronds to reduce to Ash

in Jerusalem six years ago early in the morning I felt I should get up and go and I walked through the town from the Gloria hotel near the Jaffa gate to the church

the church that has two names

one is the church of the holy sepulcher

there was almost no one there

a priest gathered a small group of people at the bottom of a stair and I asked him 

I don’t know what I’m looking at what should I look at and he said

well you want to go up the stairs that’s Calvary

then you want to go over to that little building inside the building that is the chapel with the tomb

later that day I went into the chapel and lay my forehead on the cool marble slab in the inner room

my eyes closed

it was dark so dark I felt as if I were looking into a darkened face looking into mine

I felt nothing

I lost track of time

then I heard a gasp of breath and I opened my eyes leaned away got up and went out

the attendant said yes Fr.

and I walked out into the larger church which has another name the church of the Resurrection

but not yet not today

we are still at the tomb with our eyes closed waiting for the light to dawn

between then and now we gather at a table and he is there and he says to us as he breaks the bread and passes it around

this is my body broken for you

the true Paschal Lamb offers himself for us

at the end of the meal he takes the cup blesses it giving thanks to God and gives it to us and says

this is my blood the blood of the new covenant remember this

remember this whenever you drink it

and so we remember also the offering Abraham made of his own son

And God reckoned  that faith of Abraham unto him for righteousness

it wasn’t killing his son that saved him it was his faith

and so even today as we without bread or wine in our hands offer our faith as our gift to God 

and it is through that faith that he redeems us 

it is through his act in which we have faith that he has made us whole

“Our faith is our gift to God”, Arizona Daily Star, March 30th 2021, https://tucson.com/our-faith-is-our-gift-to-god/article_5f031639-f5e1-58c3-9291-cd4d498961d0.html.

"Our faith is our gift to God; through it, he redeems us." Arizona Daily Star, April 4th 2021, E3.

https://tucson.com/our-faith-is-our-gift-to-god/article_5f031639-f5e1-58c3-9291-cd4d498961d0.html (updated April 1st 2021)